The City-State Of Detroit

The fire was cooking a wild deer that one of their hunters had brought back. It was a heavy one that had seen a good amount of years. But it wasn't the only thing that was brought from the trip into the woods. A few of them had been able to get Rabbits before they hid in their holes which had been put into a big pot where they had made a stew of Vegetables and added Beef Broth to give it more flavor. Commander Smull had stood just on the outside of the circle of gathered people as they ate their meals. He wasn't eating, he leaned against the one building smoking a cigarette. Most of the people did have their Rifles or Shotguns. Instead, they had their sidearms on their sides. When the Russian force came around to the dinner circle, Damen nodded his head towards those that looked his way and even tipped his hat to the female officer, Alexandra. He observed as the two groups talked to each other and was learning a bit about each other. From what he could see and hear, everything was going smoothly and that was a plus in his books. Watching them all eat to their hearts delights was a proud thing to see with both American's, Some Canadian's, and the Russian's all sharing the same hot meal sitting around the massive camp fire which was near the size of a damn Barn Fire. Them all Sharing their tales and trials they all have been through in life. Pushing off of the wall of the Terminal Building, he reached down and unclipped his radio from his hip and pushed in the button. "Harry, Smull. I'm calling it a night. Going to be heading out with some of the tech's to find the parts they need for the Tower. Make sure we have a team or two patrols around the area and get's swapped out for another team every two hours. " Harry was his Second in command for when he was asleep or when Damen was away from the air strip. "Alright Boss. I'm in the tower now with a couple of our look out snipes to make sure we don't have any of the dead sneaking up on us in the dark. Talk to you in the morning.", "Ok, over and out." Clipping his Radio back onto his belt, he made his way away from the group and went over towards his tent. Stepping inside of it, he undid the flaps and let them fall to the ground and zipped from the top downwards. He didn't bother to unbutton his naval fatigue shirt. He unholstered his side arm and set it down on the desk right beside his cot. Laying down onto it, he let out a brief sigh of relief as he hooked his arm over his face and covered his eyes with his forearm. 

At the Enemy Base up north

The Colonel walked out of the Mess Hall with a black revolver on his hip. His hands were on his hip as he walked towards the run way. There on it was four pilots and Six men dressed in all black and had suppressed weapons. One of the weapons was a M110 SASS (Semi Automatic Sniper System) which had a Suppressor on it and the full thing was painted black and dark olive green. Those that were dressed in black had the patch of SEAL TEAM FIVE on their shoulders. Walking up to them, he looked at each of them as they were ready to rock n roll the night away. "Men, you all know what we are going to be doing tonight. We have some pretty dumb mother fuckers over there at the Coleman Young Airport. They attacked two of our group's towns so we are going to be losing out on their vegetables or them finding different equipment they find from them salvaging different towns...cities...and even bases further from us. Tonight, those dumb asses are going to get a taste of what they did to us. Black Angel's, you four pilots are going to fly low and hit them with your Vulcan's. You know the distance from each other you need to do this run. When you fly past, I want you to destroy that run way. We know they have fighters and most likely Helicopters from the Russian forces that are there. Once you drop your payload on the under bellies of your A-10's, you are to break off from each other in different directions and launch out your Flares. Mean while, SEAL's, you will be sneaking on the ground from the south and head north to push through  and wait for the flares to launch from the A-10's. Once they do, you will make your way around and through their encampment and take out anyone that comes along among the chaos that is sure to be there. Mark your way so that the Army boy's comes up to give you guys support and to push forth onto your main task. To kill everyone in that airport to leave a message for the masses that funded these vile people. Let's get to it people, we have a great deal of people to kill tonight for a Blood red Sun to rise. May god be with each of you and for you all to come back home to your wives, Husbands, sons, and daughters. God Speed." The gathering of men and women ran to where they were needed. Some ran for Ground Vehicles and the others ran for the A-10's that have been lined up on the run way and ready to fire up and take off.

The Seal Team was going to take in the more quiet of their vehicles within two miles away from the airport where they will leave the vehicles hidden in the darkness where the Army Humvee's will roll up to the very spot and wait ten minutes after the A-10's attack and break will then follow the path's that the Seal Team left behind while walking the rest of the way and keeping low, using the tree's and tall grass as cover. With a Chrysler manufacturing building off to the east of the Terminal building their Sniper was going to lay there with his rifle and pop off any targets from long range. Both the SEAL's and the Army soldier's left before the A-10's taking off of the base. They drove as fast as they could with a gap in between the two different ground forces for this Operation. The Colonel who was the leader of the base had a fail safe plan for if the Ground force wasn't able to push through and do their Objective. Moving across the base, he went over towards where he had the tanks and armored Personnel transport stored. Before he had left the mess hall, he had asked for his three Paladin Commander's to meet him along with their crews at the storage area of their Armed Vehicles. Walking up to them, each man and woman saluted him where he then Saluted them back. Once they all were at ease, The Colonel spoke up. "You men and women were asked by myself to meet me here. As you are aware, we are doing a night time assault. I have faith in their success, but every great Commander always has a back up plan and that's where your teams come into play. I know we don't have to many of the 109 High Explosive rounds laying around. So you three Paladin crews are going to fire One shot each from your mighty guns. You know where this target is. I want you three positioned and aimed for..." Reaching behind him, he took out a map of the State with a circle around Coleman Young Airport with three red dots on the Main Terminal Building, the Hanger's location and a couple of inches away from the Terminal building. Setting the map down on the one Humvee close by, he continued. "These three locations. Hanger Bay, Terminal building and this red dot is where they have their encampment at. If we hear that our boys and gal's out there can't do their objective, you are needed to blast three holes into that location. The Code for the order is 'Fire Control, Bring down the Mountain.' You have your orders and you know what is being asked of you. Get into your Paladin's and ask for the proper coordinates from our Forward Observes that had scouted the area earlier.", "YES SIR!" The gathering shouted and ran for their M109 Paladins and fired up the Heavy engines. He turned away and began to walk back to his command building. Taking out his Cigar and Zippo, he lit the cigar, lighting up his face and showing his blood shot eyes from lack of sleep he's had. A smile crept across his face as he heard all the engines of the base firing up and getting in position for what they were going to do for their parts of their tasks. "Hell is going to have company tonight for we shall be the burning sword to send them there. When you bastards reach hell's gates...tell the Devil That I sent you to him....ha ha ha ha..." His laughter echoed a bit as he walks into the darkness of the building.

Five minutes later

The Navy Seal team had finished their slow move through the two miles on foot. They could see the lights of the Air port on. With their night vision goggles on, they could see those moving about and each of them had firearms on them, and they seemed like they were ready for a war to happen. Hiding behind the tree's, the leader of the group, Captain John O'Neal placed his hand onto his throat mic as his sniper moved quietly and as fast as he could with rifle in hand to the hill top. "Seal Team Five is in position and ready for the Black Angel's." Off in the distance, the very deep low whine could be heard approaching to the area, then the sound of brrrrrt roaring until anti armor 30mm rounds began to tear into pieces of the tower and even the Flight control deck of the tower as sparks and Chunks of the tower blasted forth from it, into parts of the Terminal building and even tearing areas that guards path was near a few of the humvee's and the M-ATV causing the vehicles to explode from the rounds piercing through them all. The A-10's flew in low and went right over head of them and dropped their four bombs onto the run way where the Helicopters were being stored. They didn't find the fighters a they broke away and fired off their flares, lighting up the area in the massive glow of all of the flares going off as they gunned it away from the Airport. The heavy bombs slammed the ground causing massive blasts from each explosion. This was the Seal's sign as they began to make their advancement towards the Airport. With Silencers on their M-4's and MP-5's, they made their way into the perimeter of the Airport. Their Sniper began to open fire, taking out both American Soldier's, Civilians that were armed or even if he had a clear shot, the Russian Soldiers. The unit moved up and placed small Neon Green X's on area's that they had past and cleared out. Weapons raised up and firing on anyone that moved in front of them or crossed paths with them.

The first sign that there was trouble was when one of Grishkov's men dropped to the ground, clutching his side. The sound of the round that had skidded off his side plate and embedded itself into the ground snapped everyone to attention, with the squad's sergeant yelling out over their radio, "Kontakt (Contact)!" THe VDV immediately pressed themselves up against the hangar door of the hangar behind them, given their estimation of where the shot had come from. It was only precious seconds later that they heard the droning of what was unmistakably an A-10's GAU-8 cannon, the VDV were after all like most Russian Special Operations Forces trained to identify enemy aircraft, and few aircraft had a weapon that had such a distinctive sound as the A-10 did. 

"K'boyu!" barked Grishkov over the radio, and immediately the two marksmen with the 9K33 Verba slung their rifles and unslung the 9K33 launcher, second and third squads had also heard the aircraft and so they too readied their launchers. As they were midway through the practised maneuver, the A-10s streaked off toward the south, a deafening boom coming from the direction of the main terminal building at that point. Their main guns were trailing propellant from the extended burst they'd just unleashed, and the two marksman with Grishkov, as well as the marksmen with the other two squads tracked the relatively slower moving ground attack aircraft and after awaiting for the missile to acquire a targeting solution on the aircraft, unleashed six Verba missiles. 

The Verba used their ultraviolet, infrared and mid-infrared seekers to home in on the four aircraft. The two closest aircraft had two missiles chasing them, while the other two only had a single Verba on their tail. The Verba missiles flew at Mach 1.4, a lot faster than the A-10s were even capable of flying. There was no question of the A-10s avoiding them, and at the range they'd been engaged it was harder for the A-10s to shake the missiles off with flares. Grishkov knew that there was a chance that a few of the American aircraft would manage to limp back to their base, the damned A-10s were known for their durability and ability to return to base despite having suffered ridiculous damage. 

The problem with the Verba missiles was that they left a very convenient smoke trail that identified the VDV units. However, Grishkov had raised the alarm with the rest of the VDV contingent and no doubt the fourth squad and Alexandra were jumping into their gear as fast as they could. He was still trying to raise the Americans, but all he was getting was interference so far. Grishkov cursed the situation, had they known there was a hostile faction with aircraft in play, they'd have called in for a more dedicated air defence compliment, he knew there was a few spare 9K22 Tunguska back at the base somewhere. Well, it looked like they were going to have to make do with what they had, he knew that his commanders would be hesitant to send more aircraft until they knew more about what they were dealing with. Which meant that if they survived this, there was a lot of work to do.

Just as Colonel McKenna and Governor Sharpe were trying to ascertain the situation out at Coleman Young Airport, Doc MacMillan and his medics were gathered around his desk in the first-floor Medical Office - specifically around an AN/PRC-77 which was set to the frequencies being used to communicate between Coleman Young and the Island. Although not everyone was there - one medic, Melissa Patten, was in charge of the Aid Station over at Coleman Young while a second medic, Hannah Lerios, was currently at the other end of the Island with the Island's on-call QRF (Quick Reaction Force, located at the inner barricade down at the MacArthur Bridge within visual sight of Outpost #31) waiting for word on whether they would head out and try to reinforce the Airport personnel. 

Looking around at the other medics inside the Office - Senior Medic Kate McCready-Bates and Medics Haley Haller, Natasha Scott and Kasie Heinrich - Doc MacMillan could see the worried, knotted expressions on their faces, knowing that one of their own was in what sounded like a buzzsaw of a firefight while a second one was waiting with the rescue force to go pickup their fellow medic like the cavalry of old. "Any word on the QRF, Doc?" Kasie asked. 

"Not that I'm aware of," Joseph replied, wondering what was taking the bosses upstairs so long to decide. Yes, he knew sending people blindly out without knowing what was going was a sure recipe for disaster but at the same time, he also knew sitting around waiting was just as bad. "We're still in a holding pattern," he added. Like Kasie, he was aware of the QRF's job: if anyone from the Island - civilian, American military or Russian military - needed pickup and helicopter assistance wasn't available, a team of four Humvees (each HMMV armed with a 7.62mm LMG in a turret setup) along with an Army M1083 transport would head out, pick up whoever needed rescue, and return to Belle Isle. It wasn't the fanciest system but it worked; now, they were waiting for word - either word to stand down or word to head out into the Unknown.

Rather than have everyone wait, Joseph decided to get the Medical area set up for whatever came in. "Alright, while we're waiting for word on the QRF, let's go ahead and prep Medical for a possible Mass Casualty....Kasie, you and Haley set up Exam #1 as a Surgical Suite; get whatever's needed and draft whoever you have to help prep Exam #1," pausing as he looked around. "Natasha, head over to the Infirmary and stand guard there; if anyone's well enough to leave, discharge them and put them on light duty until things calm down. Once casualties start coming in, we'll triage everyone - get the Russians to assist you there, Nat--"

"What's the triage procedure, sir?" Natasha asked; without hesitating, Joseph said, "Same as before: walking wounded go straight to Infirmary, surgical cases to Exam #1....while I think about it," looking around once again, "Kaise, Haley, prep both Exam #1 and Exam #2. Anyway, Nat, triage is as follows: walking wounded to the infirmary, surgical cases to Exam #1 and Exam #2...."

"And if they're not expected to...," Natasha asked somberly.

"Keep them in Isolation until they die, then we hit them with the bolt stunner; you know the drill," Joseph said with equal somberness. In the land of the walkers, where everyone turned unless killed by a death blow to the head, there was a short period of time between death and changeover, as Joseph put it, and if they couldn't resuscitate someone after their heart stopped beating, once TOD (Time of Death) was called, a bolt stunner was placed close to the temple and the trigger depressed. It was euthanasia, plain and simple, and none of the Medical staff, from the medics to the orderlies to Dr. MacMillan, cared for it. However, as Chief Medical Officer of Belle Isle, it was his job to both call TOD and perform the euthanasia on the deceased....and it was the one part of his profession in the post-apocalyptic world that he absolutely hated.

"Anyway, once casualties start coming in, that's what we'll do: triage everyone injured, operate on the most critical that can be saved and try to comfort the ones that--" Before Joseph could finish, they all heard the radio squelch that meant an incoming message was on-the-way; switching over to a channel the medics used when communicating between the airport and the Island, he picked up the radio handset, pressed the handset mic down and spoke. "This is Doc MacMillan; is that you, Melissa?" he said, any trace of somberness gone from his voice.

"Yeah, its' me, Blondie," Melissa said loudly over the radio, "with some radio traffic and info ready to send to you, Doc."

"Send it," Joseph replied, grabbing a pen and paper as Melissa spoke. "Situation is as follows: as you can tell, the airport was hit by both airstrikes and a ground assault. Whoever hit us got the control tower, main terminal, at least one hangar and most of the flightline. For some reason, they missed the Aid Station, but don't worry, we've been busy enough as it is," she said, the last part deadpan. That brought a few laughs from the assembled medics as they listened on. "Casualties are as follows: three times four plus one, killed to wounded at the moment, though I expect that number to rise judging by the amount of fire throughout the area over here. Mostly civilian staff from the Island; we haven't treated any Russians....yet." That brought a chuckle from Doc MacMillan as Melissa added, "or any American military, though given the fighting thus far, I'll be surprised if the given numbers don't go up there."

"Is the Aid Station still functional?" Joseph added; without a moment's hesitation, Melissa said, "We're still in the fight, sir. Tell the Colonel to give Lieutenant Heath and her USAF personnel a medal for bravery 'cause they've been here, there and everywhere at the airport." (Unbeknownst to everyone at the Island, Lt. Heath and her night patrol had, instead of withdrawing to the barricades as ordered earlier by Col. McKenna, turned around and gone back to the airport to join the fight in progress.) Same for the infantry here; they've put up one hell of a fight. Any word on the QRF because we're starting to run low on ammo and supplies out here, sir," Melissa said,

Snapping his fingers, Joseph pointed at Kate and said, "Rush this upstairs and let Colonel McKenna know what's going on, then ask her if she wants the QRF sent out, Once that's done, Kate, come back down and coordinate setting up everything between the others," pausing as he racked his mind trying to figure out if they needed anything else to be done. "Alright, everyone, let's go; time's a-wastin'..."

Quiet cheers erupted from the VDV with Grishkov, but that was when their marksmen spotted advancing troops in what were in United States Army BDUs, and that would have normally been cause for confusion. However, Grishkov wasn't getting anything over the radio, and the stance of these troops was enough to tell them that they weren't here with peaceful intentions. So, it was simple, Grishkov gave the order to fire and the VDV opened up on the advancing American troops. However since the Americans had split up, they didn't notice that there was another squad coming around the right side, and instead had focused on the left.



For those on the left however, it wasn't even a fair fight. Where the Americans had one M-60 to support them, the VDV had two suppressed Bullpup Pecheneg General Purpose Machine Guns per squad, and right now there were two squads firing at them with squad three still holding the choppers and squad four getting their act together. First the Americans were subjected to a hail of 9x39 BP subsonic armor piercing rounds as the riflemen were the first to engage with their OTs-14s. The armor piercing rounds were designed to penetrate body armor, and had no problem in doing so against the Improved Outer Tactical Vests worn by the American soldiers.



Now while the Americans vests kept them largely safe from the 7.62x54R rounds fired by the Russian Bullpup Pecheneg General Purpose Machine Guns, the gunfire was enough to force them to take cover. By the time the Americans got into position to make use of their squad support weapon, knocking a few of his men onto their ass and managing to injure a few more, the VDV snipers put an end to the M-60 and it's operator. A single 12.7x55 round blew open the man's chest, and then another smacked into the weapon when it was on the ground, preventing any of the others from using it.



In the meanwhile, Alexandra and the fourth squad were springing into action. Most of them had thrown on their 6B45 Ballistic Vest and 6B46 Tactical Vest over loosely worn uniform shirts or Telnyashkas. Alexandra made sure to load the SP-6 High Performance Armor Piercing Rounds before she and the rest of her squad left the hangar. As they exited the hangar, they ran into flanking Americans. "KONTAKT (Contact)!" yelled Alexandra over the radio, and as she brought her AS Val up she saw the American soldier opposite her bring his M-16 up. She pulled the trigger and sent a burst into his upper torso, the armor piercing 9x39 rounds tore through the armor and into his chest. 

The man went down, but not before she felt pain shoot up her right arm. She could feel warm blood drizzle down her arm, her AS Val now on the ground in front of her. The squad leader dropped to a knee in front of her, spraying the Americans with a pair of two round bursts from his OTs-14. Alexandra drew her SR1MP and using her other hand put pressure on her wound. At this distance, the round had gone clean through her arm. She put two rounds into the head of one of the Americans as a trio of 5.56x45mm rounds smacked into her ballistic vest. The American's M-60 gunner had unfortunately for them been subjected to a hail of 9x39 armor piercing fire, while the two Pecheneg's were at this range quite devastating, and the hail of fire from the two general purpose machine guns only served to be squad four's saving grace. 

While the Americans were going crazy in Belle Isle, the Russian Spetsnaz team and their pilots were certainly not sleeping. The single Mi-35M parked at Belle Isle was warmed up and ready to take off at a moment's notice. The gunship's radar had picked up the four A-10s when they'd waved off their second run after being hit. Though the crew couldn't tell what sort of missile it had been, they still had a strong feeling it was the Verba carried by the VDV at Coleman rather an American Stinger. 

Now Captain Beloi had to maintain an air of professionalism among his troops and his American counterparts, but to say that he wasn't worried for Alexandra's safety was an understatement. His unit knew this, and it was why they appreciated his actions even more. He'd gotten word that the Americans were trying to radio for everything to be sent over, and to say that he was furious at such a rookie mistake was gross understatement. Casualty figures hadn't even come in and they were already ordering an escalation. 

Their orders were clear, secure an alliance with Belle Isle and secure the area to the best of the abilities, failing that ascertain hostile unit strength and positions. The A-10s had been a surprise, they had no idea that the enemy had access to military grade aircraft and who knows what else. He had no doubt it was brought on by the airstrike they'd called earlier. However, they didn't know just how many forces the enemy had, and calling in reinforcements of any kind at this point was insane. 

He knew they had plenty of aircraft, more than capable of escorting transport aircraft over. Once they were here however, only permanent combat air patrols or anti-aircraft batteries would ensure that they couldn't strike at Colman Young again. There was also the problem of how operational the already barely intact facility was, after this attack. Reinforcements would be needed, yes, but not throwing more men, women and machinery into the meat grinder. That, was insanity.

He made it to the radio room with no issues, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Zaitsev and Lieutenants Morozov and Chyornyj with him. "Colonel," he said as he entered, emphasis on the word. "I may not be a high ranking commissioned officer like you, but even I know the response my commanding officers are going to give you. Sending in aircraft now is going to do nothing, and stationing them here is going to be anywhere from difficult to impossible. So how about we all take a breath, and stop this madness, yes?" He paused to let that sink in, wanting to ensure they understood what he was saying, before he continued. 

The Spetsnaz all had their weapons slung, but the grips within close reach in case someone decided they didn't like hearing the truth. He looked around the room to see if there was anyone looking like they were going to try something. He was distinctly aware of the fact that he and his men were outnumbered if that were to be the case, but he had no problem defending himself, even against his own allies in the face of lunacy. After all, with the world gone to shit, he'd seen far stranger things. 

"Right now, our best bet is to let our comrades at Coleman Young handle it. If they can't, we'll know soon enough. Leaping in now without knowing anything? That is...a cluster fuck, to put it in your terms. Oh, and tell that civilian that if she tries to order anyone again, I'll arrest her personally" he said, and though his face was covered by his balaclava, his tone was a perfect indicator of just how serious he was. The fully armed and armored Spetsnaz GRU behind him only serving to reinforce his point. 

"Don't worry, Colonel, I have every intention to," said Captain Beloi in response. After all, he was sure that he more than the good Colonel had a reason to check in with the contingent there. Only problem was while he was making his way here and ensuring that no further damage was done, his technician was ensuring that the Strelets head quarters module was restarted. The attack had come so suddenly that both units were only using the localized version of Strelets, and were relying on traditional radio to communicate with one another.

His personal unit beeped to life and pulled out the small book sized tablet computer from it's pouch, silently thanking Natalya for being as fast as she was. A few taps and the interface showed him that Alexandra's tablet was also still active. He breathed a sigh of relief and initiated a voice and video link. It was nothing more than basic video at best, but it would do, and he couldn't resist but show off their latest toys to the Americans. Contrary to popular belief, technology did not spontaneously combust when put down for more than five seconds. 

On video, Alexandra was wearing her tactical and ballistic vest over her telnyashka, with a medic tending to her arm while she had her SR1MP in her other arm. Sounds of fire filtered in from the background, and he could see two VDV firing and advancing on an enemy off screen while a third hurled a fragmentation grenade. She winced as the medic continued his work despite the pandemonium, as was expected of him. "Chevo, radio slishkom osnovnoye dlya vas (What? Radio too basic for you?)" 

Vasily wanted to be there, and shoot the motherfucker that had hurt her himself, though knowing Alexandra she'd no doubt done that herself. "I'm with Colonel McKenna, so English please, Lieutenant." Despite his feelings on the matter, Vasily was remaining as professional as he could, and he tried to calm himself down by telling himself that really it was not a bad wound. Didn't really help, though. 

She scoffed, then let out a short laugh, after which she shook her head. "Besides the four A-10s that Lieutenant Grishkov's men sent home with their tails between their legs? Well, we've got hostile troops in US Army uniform assaulting our position. God alone knows what's happening with the Americans here, we haven't been able to get close enough to make a full damage estimate. I...uh...I think Lieutenant Heath is KIA, got one transmission from her saying they were advancing up to our position, haven't heard from her since." There was a long pause before she added, "My condolences, Colonel."

Vasily had been holding the device so the Colonel could see, but now he lowered it slightly as he turned to get a better look at the Colonel's face. This whole thing was a mess, but loosing your own troops was never easy. He could only imagine what she was going through.  

Vasily turned back to the image of Alexandra on the tablet, "You heard the Colonel, Lieutenant. I'll let you get to it." Captain Beloi knew that in the chaotic mess of a situation that was Coleman Young it would be a while before the US and Russian counterparts rendezvoused with each other, and he wasn't going to insult Alexandra by telling her how to do her job. Vasily knew from first hand experience that she was very, very good at her job, and that wasn't the boyfriend in him talking. Alexandra nodded, looking into his eyes for a moment before the display unit went dead. 

Vasily wholeheartedly agreed with the Colonel, and he knew one thing for sure, that once they ascertained who their foe was their days on this earth were numbered. "Indeed, Colonel. I hope, however, that I don't need to remind you that our mission here is to ascertain who that foe is, right? Can't call in the cavalry without knowing who our enemy is. Once we have retaken Coleman Young, we're going to need to start carrying out daily long range reconnaissance, find out where whoever attacked us is based." 

Vasily knew his superiors well, until they pinned down the source of the aircraft and ascertained exactly what it was that they had at their disposal they weren't going to be risking any of their aircraft. The Americans knee jerk response was only going to risk their own aircraft, especially since now the enemy would be expecting them to reinforce their position heavily. However, the best hope here was to find the enemy's base and ensure that they were going to be using their aircraft any time soon. If that meant calling in a cruise missile strike from the Kuznetsov then so be it, if that meant going in on foot and seeing to it that their aircraft were no longer functioning then so be it. To risk their air assets without a means to replace them as of this moment, was simply put, a waste. 

He wasn't the Americans commanding officers however, and if they wanted to behave like rank amateurs acting on knee jerk impulse, then who was he to stop them. They'd be free to do so, he was going to ensure that he used the assets he had at his disposal till they could ensure that their aircraft could operate without undue risk. Sighing he looked at the map the Colonel brought out and scanned it, scouring his memory for the American bases in this area. Last he checked, there was one at Selfridge and one at Battle Creek. He'd have to ask Alexandra for information on what aircraft were stationed at each of these bases, because he could not for the life of him remember. He tapped Selfridge, "Selfridge would appear to be close enough for a strike of this nature, given the use of infantry units and the timeframe within which it occurred." 

Storyline question, everyone: I was just thinking....should we go ahead and timeskip to the next morning and try to get this thread finished off in short order? Thoughts, anyone?